Medicaid Reform, By the Numbers
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$1,029,300,000,000—Minimum amount that Medicaid will continue to grow over the next ten years under the reconciliation act and the existing Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline, belying the notion that the law will “cut” Medicaid spending
7,000,000—Enrollment growth since the COVID pandemic; in May 2019, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that 77 million people would enroll in Medicaid in 2025, compared to a January estimate of 84 million enrolled this year
$0—Amount of general fund dollars that states like Colorado and New Hampshire have used to finance their Medicaid expansion to able-bodied adults, due to the prevalence of provider tax and other funding gimmicks
62%—Percentage of Medicaid enrollees with no earned income, indicating they were not working at all, according to a Foundation for Government Accountability study
$817,000,000,000—Growth in the projected Medicaid baseline from June 2024 to January 2025, according to CBO, meaning that the law’s $894.3 billion to $989.7 billion in spending restraint will reduce Medicaid to roughly the same size CBO projected last year
3,000-5,000—Number of enrollees dropping private coverage every month in one state (Louisiana) during its initial months of expansion, meaning that roughly one-third of expansion enrollees cancelled private coverage to go on the government rolls
$8,400,000,000—Spending by California on Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants during the fiscal year ending this June 30
70%—Percentage of individuals determined presumptively eligible for Medicaid by hospitals who were later found ineligible or never completed an enrollment application, according to a Foundation for Government Accountability study
$14,000,000,000—Unnecessary spending on 2.8 million individuals enrolled in multiple forms of government-funded health coverage in 2024, according to a July 2025 CMS analysis
$1,084,125,830,000—Comprehensive estimate of improper payments within Medicaid over the past ten years, including the impact of state errors regarding enrollment eligibility, according to a Paragon Health Institute policy brief
710,739—Individuals with disabilities on Medicaid waiting lists to receive home-based care, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in part because the federal government provides a higher match rate for states to cover able-bodied adults